


The Anti-Superman

by roxyeisen



Series: What Happens Next [4]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Continuation of the finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 09:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14185647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roxyeisen/pseuds/roxyeisen
Summary: William and Scully share another vision during the night. The future doesn't look good for their family.





	The Anti-Superman

My mother makes a bed for me on the couch. They say goodnight and go upstairs together. I watch TV for a while and eat sunflower seeds, but I’m not tired. My mind is racing. I know a vision is coming. It’s like the aura some people get before a migraine. It’s a kind of agitated itch inside my brain.

I get up and pace the small room a few times. Visions start flashing in my head. I don’t want to let them play out, but it hurts worse to try to stop them. I cringe and hold my head as the images race through my mind. I don’t like looking at the future. It makes it a lot harder to live in the day if you know the misery that’s coming. But I seem to have been elected prophet of my time. I spend as much time in the future as I do the present.

I see my mother, crying in pain. Her stomach is big. She’s lying in their bed and the sheets are soaked with blood. Red everywhere. Mulder is standing next to her, worried. He’s telling me to call 911. 

The vision changes. Mulder and I are standing in a cemetery. He’s holding a baby. My mother is nowhere to be seen. I feel guilt. Tremendous, overwhelming guilt like I had something to do with it.

Flashes. I’m in a dark place. I’m holding a long stiletto. I’m looking in a mirror. Can I stab myself in the back of the neck? Will it work? It works on other kinds. I jam the knife into the skin of my neck. Pain. Blinding pain. Blood everywhere. But I don’t die, even though I want to. Nothing ever kills me.

Running. I’m always running away in my visions. 

When the flashes stop, I realize I’m on the floor. I breathe heavily and remember the images. They're seared into my mind now. What do they mean? If I stay here, will I cause my mother to die? 

I sigh deeply and hold my head as I try to sit up. Suddenly my mother comes down the steps. She sees me and comes to me, reaching and putting her hands on my cheeks just like my mom used to do after I had a seizure. 

“Are you okay?” she asks, breathless. She’s worried. “I told Mulder to call an ambulance.”

“No.” I push away her hands even though I don’t want to. “I’m okay. I saw another vision.”

“I know,” she says, smoothing the hair out of my face. “I saw it too.”

I shake my head. “Okay, this just proves I shouldn’t be here. I need to get as far away from you two and your baby as I can.”

I jump up and head for the door. She grabs my arm to stop me. “William, even if what we saw is true, that doesn’t mean it was your fault. How could you possibly do anything to hurt me?”

I scoff. “Ask Mulder. He knows.”

“Mulder doesn’t know anything of the sort,” Mulder says from the stairs. “What did you both see?”

My mother exchanges a glance with me and looks at Mulder. “Something goes wrong with the pregnancy. The baby is born, but …”

She doesn’t want to say it. We both know it will make him worry. He’s a worrier. An obsessive worrier. 

“Tell me,” he demands, coming down the stairs and meeting us in the middle of the room. 

“I kill her!” I throw up my hands. I can’t believe these two. What do they owe me? It’s not like they asked for me. They wanted a normal baby, not a psycho anti-Superman. Why can’t they just let me go? “I kill her and leave you with a baby to raise on your own. And then I try to kill myself but it doesn’t work. It never works! I’m just going to spend the rest of my life, however long it ends up being, disintegrating people with my mind and causing general destruction wherever I go, okay? You two need to accept it and let me out of here before I ruin your lives.”

Mulder looks at my mother. “What is he talking about?”

She sighs. “In the vision … I die. But he doesn’t do anything to cause it. As far as I could tell, I die in childbirth.”

This horrified look passes over Mulder’s face before he has a chance to veil his response. _Then I’m the one who kills you,_ he thinks. 

He stares at her as if she’s just said the earth is going to open up and swallow her. This guy needs my mom. Desperately. If anything happens to her, he’s not going to be able to function to go on and raise a child alone. I get him. I get him because I feel that way about being alone. Sometimes I think I’m going to go crazy if I don’t find someone to be with me. Help me share the burden. At the same time, I know I’m never going to have it. It would be too selfish and stupid of me to risk hurting the one I love the most. That’s where Mulder and I are different. He doesn’t have the courage to leave.

“How do I stop it?” Mulder isn’t really asking either of us. He’s asking himself. Because he doesn’t accept that she’s just going to die and there’s nothing he can do about it.

“You let me out of here and you never think about me again.” I point to the door. “I know how to take care of myself. I’m pretty much an adult. There’s nothing that says you two owe me anything. It wasn’t your fault I was born a freak. You just wanted a baby. There was nothing wrong with wanting to have a child together. You love each other. I don’t have to be psychic to see that, okay?”

My mom’s got tears in her eyes now. I look at her, and I see her memories. Finding out she couldn’t conceive a child because of experiments done on her against her will. Mulder showing her the vial of her ova. Her asking him to be the father, him saying yes. The failed in vitro procedure. Mulder comforting her. Them sharing a night together, holding each other.

Her finding out just as he’s taken away from her that she’s pregnant. 

With me.

I can see why they thought I was their miracle baby. What a disappointment I’ve turned out to be. On so many levels.

“William, whatever you’re thinking, you have to believe that we care about you …” my mother starts, but I don’t want to hear it. I’m remembering her words on the dock when she thought I was dead, and I don’t believe they really want me here.

I spare her none of my anger. “You wanted to let me go, okay? You said I never should have been. You admitted it when you thought I was dead, why can’t you see it now?” I’m harsh, and I’m not sorry. Part of me is still hurt by the easy way she cast me aside. Part of me wants to hurt her back.

“I … I didn’t mean that, William.” Tears fill her eyes. I can see her remorse. “I was overwhelmed.”

“Actions speak louder than words, son,” Mulder says, clamping a hand firmly on my shoulder. I don’t think it’s in support of me as much as it is a warning to lay off my mother. I can see his point, but I still need to understand why she threw me under the bus like that. 

He doesn’t say anything else, but he thinks some specific memories directed at me to prove his point. They tried to keep me safe for almost a year before she finally gave me up for adoption in complete desperation, only hoping to protect me. They both chose to believe I was their son though they didn’t have proof. Mulder didn’t have to claim me. But he did. I can see the memory. They never forgot me. She was still wondering about me and yearning for me in most recent days. Either of them would give their lives to protect me.

I feel a wave of guilt, but I’m still angry.

All of us are doing the staring thing now, and none of us know what to say. The phone on the desk rings. Mulder picks it up.

He doesn’t say anything, but he’s got that look on his face again. Like he’s staring down at my mom’s dead body. He hangs up. Sits down on the couch and stares at the floor. “It was a garbled voice. Said they were looking for the boy and they would find him. He’s a danger to society. He’s to be institutionalized.”

I roll my eyes. It’s what I’ve seen all along. It’s my final destination. “Like they can hold me.”

They look at each other. I read their minds, and any sense of security I might have hoped to find in them is gone.

_How can we possibly protect him?_

_I won’t let you die, Scully._

I just need to make it easy for them. Not give them a choice. I’ll sneak out.

“William, I want you to promise me you will still be here in the morning.” Mulder comes to me again and puts his hands on my shoulders. I meet his eyes, and I’m surprised by the respect I feel for him. I don’t want to lie to him. I don’t want to disappoint him. I want him to be proud of me. He continues. “I know you’re thinking the only way out of this is to run, but we will come after you. You are our son, and we care about you. We’ll figure this out. We’ll find a way. I’ll help you control your powers. Who’s to say those visions aren’t what happens if you run away? Stay, and let us work this out as a family.”

“Yeah. Okay.” I don’t mean the words. I’m going to leave. But they have no choice but to believe me. My mom hugs me, and then she lets Mulder take her hand and lead her back upstairs. I see the look on his face and know what he’s thinking.

_I can’t let anything happen to her. Please, God, don’t let her die._

Why can’t they just see that it’s best for everyone if I disappear?


End file.
